From the London Eye, I headed back towards the Palace of Westminster to just scope out the area, see what I would come across, and find some lunch. Then, I would head back to Baker Street in the late afternoon to view Madame Tussaud’s, have supper, and then return home.

From the Eye, I headed back towards Jubilee Bridge. The carousel was open.

This Shakespeare quote about the Thames made me laugh.

Final glimpse!

Well said…

Lots of this signage today. I did better today than I did my first day in Glasgow when I forgot to do this and almost got creamed. I had a Canadian flag on my bag and the driver screamed at me to go back to Canada if I didn’t know how to cross a street!

The UK’s 24 Sussex Drive and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. LOTS of security, of course! But as long as you were polite and just taking pictures, the police were cool.

These arches are at the Treasury.

A few people told me to view the Churchill War Rooms, but they’re rather expensive and the queue was almost three blocks long!

Westminster Abbey.

I literally stumbled onto New Scotland Yard on my way to Buckingham Palace.

I got a chuckle at seeing this House of Fraser, a department store. When I was in the larger cities in Scotland, House of Fraser was always my reference point. I would see people walking with its bright red bag and gauge where the store was in relation to where they were coming from, then orientate myself.

Vicky, this will have to do you instead of a map. Get on Google! 😉

Aaaaand Buckingham Palace. Not too many people today.

Looking towards St. James’s Park.

I actually saw the Queen come out of the Palace of Holyroodhouse when I was in Edinburgh! She’s tiny!

I decided to head through Belgravia to Hyde Park.

There is a public transportation stop called Canada Water?!

I had my first 99 Flake! It was £1.50 outside Hyde Park, the cheapest Flake I’d seen yet!

Hyde Park is huge. I just strolled along the edge since I was getting desperate for lunch.

Came out of the park in front of a pub. How convenient! It was the Paxton’s Head in Knightbridge. I was famished and wanted something of the stick to your ribs variety. Their sausage and mash with loads of yummy gravy and sweet onion chutney at £8.99 appeared to be the best value to fill that need. I asked for a beer to go with it and the bartender actually poured me a decent sized sampler! It was a slightly bitter larger I knew would go well with my meal, so I ordered a half pint. Lunch was really yummy. I wanted to lick the plate. 😀

I was fading by this point and almost ready to head to Madame Tussaud’s. I passed a pink cab, complete with female driver, on the way to the Knightsbridge Tube station.

After consulting a map, I decided to make one more stop, Harrods Department Store.

Here is its famous Egyptian staircase. So gorgeous!

The store is very, very, very posh and carries everything you can imagine. My neighbour Caroline joked the other day that the only thing she could afford at Harrods was one cookie. She wasn’t exaggerating! I didn’t leave empty handed, though…

I wanted a Moleskine notebook for travels, but never got around to picking one up. The kind I wanted was £10.95, a better deal than if I’d bought it in Canada! I did comparison shop and was shocked that the next notebook I picked up was priced at over £300 and it was even’t even leather!

Harrods apparently has a strict dress code, something I was not aware of. I must have looked okay in my skirt, sandals, and rain coat. My coat, by the way, is perfect for English weather! I remembered from my time in Scotland that a long-sleeved teeshirt is more appropriate to the climate and that a windbreaker is often all that’s needed versus a coat. This applies to London as well (I’m visiting at the same time of year). Even when the bitterest wind blew off the Thames today, I was very comfortable without having to drag a heavy coat with me.

When I was done at Harrods, I was almost at the end of my energy reserves for the day, but wanted to visit Madame Tussaud’s. I rode the Piccadilly line to Green Park (Buckingham Palace) and then switched to the Jubilee line to Baker Street. If I hadn’t been going to Madame Tussaud’s, I would have continued on the Piccadilly line to Oxford Circle and switched to the Bakerloo line to get me straight to Queen’s Park.

Just in case I had any doubt I came out of the correct Tube station…